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-   -   Friend or foe (http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2400)

opherdonchin 09-16-2002 04:46 PM

Hey Jun,

Tried to follow that link and it said the thread didn't exist. Can you check it, please?

Opher

akiy 09-16-2002 05:03 PM

It seems as though the thread (which was entitled something like, "The Sempai/Kohai Game") is now gone...

-- Jun

Don_Modesto 09-16-2002 05:03 PM

Quote:

Jun Akiyama (akiy) wrote:
I've gone to aikido seminars sans hakama and wearing a white belt. Result? (1)

2) The people who gave me the hardest time...were the brown belted practitioners (1st/2nd kyu).

3) I noticed I didn't have the same kind of issues with higher ranked folks;

__________________

1) Wait! Don't tell me...

2) You told!

3) Really?

How interesting would be a seminar with no colors! No one would know who should be taking UKEMI! ;)

It's not just aikido, though. There was a sociology experiment once which consisted of telling the admitting desk and a mental institution that they were going to be observed. That alone was enough to drastically change the number of admittances (can't recall, however, if it was up or down.)

I had a depressing experience once. A talented youth came to the dojo and dismissively walked around my best technique. That technique had thrown ogres and bears in my dojo. He all but sniffed.

That's not the worst part. At a seminar, Patty Saotome called me up for UKEMI a couple of times meaning that I was at least recognizable for something (if not my technique). I met the same youth on the mat that day and then a simple flick of the wrist put him onto his back faster than Monica next to a humidor.

I'm left having to wonder not just why they don't fall down, but--dammit!--why they do...

opherdonchin 09-16-2002 05:11 PM

Jun,

Can you summarize what you liked about the missing thread?

I used to practice at a dojo where everyone wore variously colored belts. The first time I went to an AiKiKai dojo, I thought that the whole class was beginners. It was interesting how quickly you go from thinking, 'They're awful about testing for 5th kyu here' to thinking 'I'm just not as good as some of these guys.' Then I had the opposite experience the first time I walked into an ASU dojo (where people put on hakama at 5th kyu). At first I thought, 'boy do they test early and easy here.' Eventually I started thinking, 'well, it takes all kinds and they probably have some hidden qualities that I'm missing.' It took about two or three weeks before someone told me about hakama and rank in that style.

Bruce Baker 09-17-2002 07:21 AM

We have to frame that quote by Don J. Modesto: I am left having to wonder not just why they don't fall down, but-damnit!- why they do ...

I think it is the heart of finding the core to making Aikido work, verses having people acquese to your practice on the mat.

Absolutely priceless!


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